Keeping Your Enemies Closer
by wolfman5
Summary: Sylar finds himself drawn to Claire. Can she bring out his good side and help him heal? Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

I just started watching Heroes so I'm sorry if I get some stuff messed up. I'm trying my hand at a Heroes fic. It's my first one so please be gentle.

Chapter 1

Claire coughed and groped out into the darkness. She knew he was here. He had been very close to her when the explosions had started, but she supposed he could have been blasted anywhere. She gasped as a stray piece of glass sliced into her arm. She knew the cut was already gone. With an exasperated sigh she carefully continued to feel in front of her. She had come to the end of her reach and had not managed to find him in the pitch black. She wasn't even really sure why she was concerning herself with finding him. It was his fault she was here in the first place. She looked around her. She had no idea where the exits were and she might need his help to get out. She was sure that was part of it.

She began to pull her hand back when it connected with another hand. She crawled forward and followed the hand up to his arm. She reached forward a little further and found his face. She couldn't tell whether or not he was awake. "Stop it," he grumbled quietly. Something heavy flew past her head and hit a pile of debris behind her. Groaning, Sylar sat up.

"Nice going," Claire spat. "Now we're both stuck in here."

"How is this my fault?" he growled.

"You didn't-?"

"Cause the explosion? No. Why would I do that while I was inside? I like me."

"It was your fault we were in here in the first place. If you hadn't lured me in here, we'd both still be out there. How can you like you? You're revolting."

"Maybe we can talk about this later. We're not trapped in here. We just don't know the way out yet."

"Did you discover some mole powers I don't know about?" Sylar ignited a flame in the palm of his hand and glared at her.

"I discovered a power cooler than mole power." A little of the color drained from her face. Claire shook her head and looked away from Sylar's face. Now that there was a little light she could see that Sylar was buried from the waist down in lumber and steel beams.

"Oh wow," she breathed. He looked down.

"That must have happened when I… Let's find a way out shall we?" Using his free hand he pushed the debris off of his legs. They were twisted at alarming angles. "Little help?" Sighing, Claire came around to help Sylar twist his legs until the bones were set right. After a moment he got to his feet still holding onto the light. Claire stood with him and they searched around for an exit.

"That looks like a door." Claire went over to the exit and began shifting the bricks and boards that stood between her and getting the hell away from Sylar.

"We're going to grow old in here. Not that I'm completely opposed to growing old with you, I'd just rather it wasn't in a dank warehouse. Move." Claire dove out of the way as a brick flew towards her face. "There." She looked up and saw that the exit was clear. She glared at him as she got to her feet.

"You didn't give a damn whether I moved or not."

"I got us out didn't I?" Claire whipped around and started for the door. She hoped the ceiling collapsed on top of him as he was leaving. Suddenly Sylar grabbed her around the waist and yanked her away from the door.

"Get off of me!" He put a hand over her mouth and ignored her as she bit him.

"Shut up or they'll hear you." She mumbled something. He pulled his hand away. "What?"

"They?" He let go of her and started back towards the interior of the warehouse.

"That's twice Claire. Only this time nothing fell on me." She considered going outside, leaving him there. Something in his voice made her reconsider. She followed him.

"Who's 'them'?"

"Agents."

"Of what?"

"A lot of different places." He extinguished the light and laid down on the floor putting his hands behind his head. "Some of them, I expect, are FBI out looking for me. The other ones… You know how the company likes to collect us up?"

"Or how you like to kill us?"

Sylar went on as if she hadn't spoken. "I assume Parkman's involvement with the FBI interested them. Not long ago a few government agencies made a hobby of collecting us so that they could study our powers. Experiment on us. Possibly create super soldiers with super powers. I imagine our particular power would interest them greatly." Claire was quiet as she contemplated what Sylar was telling her. Then something else he said came to the surface.

"Twice what?"

"Hmm?"

"You said 'that's twice'. Twice what?"

"I saved you twice. When the explosions started, I pushed you out of the way of that stuff that fell on me. Then, I saved you from being detected by the agents."

"Oh…" she looked down at her hands. "So what do we do now? Just sit here in the dark and wait them out."

"It shouldn't be too long. No one could have survived a blast like that."

"Except for us." He chuckled.

"Except for us. They don't need to know that. There's no reason for us to sit around in the dark either. These places usually have some kind of a generator."

"You really think a generator would still function." He shrugged.

"If we can find it, I can fix it." He got to his feet and reignited the flame. She followed him as he made his way along the wall. Suddenly he stooped down. "Here it is. This doesn't look so bad." He played with it a little then flipped a switch and, to Claire's surprise, the lights flickered to life. Claire took a step and her foot slid on something. She looked down and saw a bright orange piece of paper laying there. She stooped down and picked it up.

"It's a demolition schedule. Inside was a wonderful place for this."

"Good thing we're indestructible." A phone started ringing.

Claire recognized Peter's ring tone. "Crap." She made her way back over to where they had started and dug for her phone.

"Peter called…" Claire whipped around and saw Sylar holding her phone. She snatched it out of his hand and looked at the caller ID. Peter had just called and she had just missed it. She listened to the voice message he had left.

_Hey, it's Peter. I'm not sure where you are. I expected to see you by now. Please give me a call back as soon as you get this. _

He sounded worried. "I have to get back to them," Claire said quietly.

"We can't go anywhere until the agents go away." Claire sighed and dialed Peter's number. Sylar wandered back to the exit. Peter picked up on the second ring.

"Claire?" He sounded a little frantic.

"Peter, I'm okay. I'm trapped in a warehouse with S-…" Claire decided that telling them about Sylar would be a bad idea. "…several agents surrounding the building."

"Agents? Claire, where are you? We'll come to get you."

"No, Peter. You guys shouldn't come here right now. If they catch you…"

"We'll be right there. Just sit tight." Before she could protest further, Peter hung up.

"Peter, you idiot…" Sylar came back and shook his head.

"Still out there. I know Peter's an idiot, but what exactly is it this time?"

"They're coming to get me." A smile tugged at the corner of Sylar's mouth.

"That should be fun to watch."


	2. Chapter 2

Here's chapter 2. I hope I'm doing okay so far. I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 2

Peter slowed down as they neared the remains of an abandoned warehouse. "Molly, are you sure this is where Claire is?" The girl in the back nodded. Matt Parkman looked at Peter doubtfully.

"If she is in there…"

Peter shook his head. "Claire would be fine." He looked around and spotted several people staked outside the building. "I see what she was saying about the agents though. They don't look friendly." Peter pulled the car into a hidden area. "We have to get in there to get her."

Matt indicated outside. "And what if they get to you?"

Peter shrugged. "I have to get Claire." Peter stepped out of the car and made his way quietly towards the warehouse. He knew that if he could get close to the warehouse before he was spotted he'd have a fair chance of making it away before any of them could grab them. At least, that was the plan.

Claire looked back out and groaned. "Peter…" She wanted to yell at him, to tell him to stop. "They're going to see him and grab him and then where's that going to leave us. They'll get whoever he came with and they'll probably come searching in here for whoever he was coming to find." Beside her Sylar cursed quietly. He was very close to her.

"This is three," he whispered in her ear. Confusion clouded Claire's eyes as she turned to face Sylar. Before she could ask him what he meant, Sylar darted out the door. Claire ducked back as the agents spotted him and gave chase. She screamed when a hand reached in and grabbed her. The hand quickly found her mouth and covered it.

"Claire, shh, it's me. It's Peter."

"Peter?" She looked back into Peter's eyes.

"We have to go before the agents come back this way." Claire stepped out of the warehouse and looked around. The people who had been surrounding the building were all gone.

"He drew them off…" she muttered in disbelief.

"Who was that? I saw him run off, but I couldn't identify him." Claire shook her head.

"No one. Let's go." Sparing one more glance back in the direction Sylar had run, Claire and Peter quickly made their way back to the car. She slid in the back next to Molly while Peter climbed back into the driver seat next to Parkman. Peter started the car back up and drove away quickly. On the police scanner in the car, the agents were requesting back-up in apprehending who they believed to be Sylar. Without realizing it Claire sucked in a deep breath.

"I hope they catch him," Peter growled. Claire hoped he got away. Even if he deserved to go to prison for all he had done, Claire was sure that whatever the agents had in store for him would be more terrible than even he deserved. 'This is three', he had said. Claire knew he had saved her life at the risk of his own. "What were you doing in that warehouse, Claire?" Peter asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"I thought Sylar had my little brother. He called me and told me that he had my brother and if I didn't come he would kill him. I went and, he didn't have anybody, he attacked me. While we were fighting, the explosions started."

"Why didn't you call us Claire? You shouldn't have gone by yourself."

"I was fine." Matt turned to look at her.

"He has your powers. Why does he keep going after you?"

Claire shook her head. "He's obsessed with her," Peter answer. "He can't kill her so he's going to keep trying until he figures out how."

"Can we stop talking about this?!" Claire shouted. "It's done now. You saved me and the agents are probably going to catch him eventually. It's a non-issue." Claire settled back in the seat and stared out the window. Peter pulled up outside of Claire's house and Claire scrambled out of the car.

Peter climbed out after her. "Maybe I should come in with you."

Claire wanted to say yes to let Peter come in and protect her, but she was still feeling defensive…on Sylar's behalf? "I'll be fine."

"Claire-"

"I'll keep my doors locked up tight and I'll call you in the morning. Goodnight." She turned and waved to Matt and Molly then walked into her house and locked the deadbolt behind her.

"Good you made it." Claire jumped at the sudden voice coming from her living room; a voice that shouldn't be there. She should be alone. Slowly she walked towards the dark room. He was sitting on her couch, smirking at her.

"What are you doing here?"

He moved to stand beside her. "I ran for as long as I could. I needed a place to hide and I was in the neighborhood."

Something Parkman had said was still bothering her. "What can't you leave me alone? You have my power. What do you want with me?" Sylar closed his eyes briefly. It was a question he had asked himself over and over. He still hadn't come up with a suitable answer.

"I don't know," he whispered. Agitated, he paced in front of her. "I have what I wanted. I should move on, but I find that I can't. I can't stop thinking about you." He grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "What is it about you?! Why are you so special?!"

Claire was shaking. "I don't know. Maybe you're looking for a reason to stop what you're doing. Looking for a reason to bury Sylar and be Gabriel." He let go of her, laughing.

"I don't think that's it." In his eyes she saw something. Something about to cave. She took a step towards him.

"You don't have to do what you've been doing. I can see it. You want to change." Claire wasn't sure what she was doing or why she was doing it, but it seemed to be working. Sylar's eyes softened.

"You're right. I'm…conflicted. I've tried to change, to be someone else, but I can't. I don't know how."

"We could help you, if you'd let us. Dr. Suresh has been looking for a way to control it."

Sylar glared and Claire knew she had overstepped. "Who would help me Claire?" He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "You and Petrelli? Dr. Suresh? Right." Claire desperately tried to regain her hold on the situation.

"If nothing else, I'll help you…Gabriel…"

Peter slammed his hand down on the steering wheel and turned the car around. "I have to go back. Make sure Claire's okay."

Matt turned to look at him. "You think there's trouble?"

"I just got a bad feeling." Matt looked back into the backseat where Molly was asleep.

"I need to get her back soon. She should be back in her own bed."

"This'll just take a second. I'm just going to go up and talk to Claire." As they pulled back into the driveway Peter could see through the window that Claire was not alone. The man had his back to the window so Peter couldn't see who it was, but he had his suspicions. Noah Bennet was away from the house he knew that much. He listened closely into the house. Claire's mind was frantic with trying to defuse a bad situation. _There has to be something I can say to calm him down, to bring Gabriel out._ Peter reach over into the glove compartment and removed the gun that was stashed there. Matt grabbed his arm.

"What are you going to do?"

"Sylar's in there with her. I have to save her."

"With that? You can't kill him."

"Yes I can. I only have one shot, but I can do it." Peter snuck closer to the house and took aim. One shot, he had to get this right.

Claire was starting to cry. Sylar hadn't released his hold on her and he was getting angrier. "Sylar please." Over his shoulder, she caught Peter. He had something in his hands. Her eyes widened, but before she could speak a gun shot rang out. Sylar's body jerked before he slid to the ground. Claire stared down at his lifeless body. His eyes were glazed over. The bullet had pierced his brain stem and he was gone. The door flew open and Peter stepped in holding his cell phone.

"Bennet," he said, "We have a problem. I'm at your house right now with Claire."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Noah Bennet came into the house. "What's going on here?" He looked down and took in Sylar's body before he looked up and caught Claire's eyes. She was sitting on the couch, huddled next to Peter, staring at the place Sylar had been standing. He kneeled in front of Claire. "Claire, are you alright?"

Slowly she looked around at her father. "I'm fine."

"What should we do with the body?" Peter asked. Noah looked up at him.

"We'll take him to a facility where we can watch him. We can't let anyone get a hold of him. Claire, did he hurt you?"

"No," she answered, sharper than she meant to. "He didn't hurt me. He didn't do anything… we were just talking."

Noah stroked her cheek before standing up. "We need to move the body in case anyone shows up. Help me get him to the car." Peter slid his hands underneath Sylar's arms and lifted. Noah came around and picked up Sylar's feet.

"Dad, what are you going to do with him?" Claire jumped off the couch. Noah turned to look at Claire.

"We'll figure that out later. Don't worry Claire-bear. He's gone now. He can't hurt you anymore." They picked Sylar up and started for the door. "I'll be home in a bit, sweetie. Call if you need me."

"I'll call you tomorrow Claire," Peter said. Claire bit her bottom lip and nodded. She watched them haul Sylar out to her dad's car and drop him in the trunk. She turned away from the door as tears slipped down her cheeks. She wasn't sure if she was crying because the events of the day had become too much or if she was crying for Sylar.

Peter ran up to the car and opened the door. "I got Sylar. He's dead. I'm going to go with Noah. We're taking the body to a secure place where no one can get their hands on him." He handed Matt the keys. "Take Molly home. And, thanks Parkman. I appreciate your help." He walked away as Parkman slid over and drove off. "Where are we taking Sylar?" He asked as he slid into the car.

"I have a secure facility. We can take him there until we can think of a way to dispose of him. He may seem dead now, but we can't risk anyone reanimating him. You did the world a service taking him down. We need to make sure no one can undo that."

_Sylar._ Claire squinted into the soft sunlight that filtered through the burnt out warehouse. She was looking for something, though she wasn't sure what it was yet. Her foot hit something and she looked down. "Sylar?" She knelt down next to him. His eyes were glazed over, he wasn't moving. "Sylar?" She shook him. "What's happening?" She rolled him over, found the bullet hole.

"They killed me Claire." She whirled around. Gabriel Grey stepped out of the shadows. She took him in. His neatly combed hair, his glasses, the innocent expression on his face. He looked down at his body and shook his head. "That's disconcerting." He stooped next to Claire. "You were right. I am looking for a reason to bury Sylar. I guess they did that for me." Claire looked at him. "Are you really going to leave me like this?" Claire watched as Gabriel reached down and pulled the bullet from Sylar's head. Sylar's eyes cleared and he looked up at her.

"Claire?"

Claire opened her eyes slowly. "Claire," her mother peeked around the corner. "Wake up sleepy-head. I've made breakfast." Claire threw her arm across her eyes to block the sunlight that streamed in through the window. "Claire now. And what are you doing on the couch?" Claire stood.

"I was watching T.V. and I must have fallen asleep." She wandered into the kitchen. "Is dad here?"

"I haven't seen him. He called to say he had to work late." Claire poked at her plate.

"Working late…" The door opened and Noah came in.

"Good morning everyone." He looked at Claire knowingly.

"Morning," she said softly. "How was work, Dad?"

"Productive, but I have to go back to finish some stuff up." Claire's eyes narrowed. Noah patted her shoulder and left the room. She got up and followed him.

"What did you do with him dad?"

Noah sighed. "Claire, why does it matter? He's a killer. He's gone. It doesn't matter."

"It does matter, Dad. Peter killed a man. You helped him haul off the body. He may not have been much of a man, but it matters what happened to him." Noah stared at his daughter incredulously. She back peddled. She knew he wouldn't understand the real reason for her wanting to know what happened after they took Sylar away, she didn't really understand it herself. She softened her eyes and looked up into his. "It matters because I want to know what would happen to me if I were to…" Noah wrapped Claire tightly in his arms.

"Oh, Claire." He looked into her eyes. "You don't have to worry about anything. I will not let anything happen to you. Stop worrying about Sylar." Claire forced a smile and nodded.

"I'm going to go to the library," she told him.

"Do you want me to take you?" Noah asked. Claire shook her head.

"I'll drive. I'll be home later tonight." Noah nodded.

"Be careful sweetie."

"I will." Noah kissed his daughter on the forehead then continued upstairs to change. Claire said goodbye to her mother then headed out to her car. She was still unsure about what she was going to do, but she knew she had to find out where they had taken him before she could do anything. She pulled out of the driveway and circled the block. She pulled to a stop watching, waiting. Soon Noah exited the house. He kissed his wife goodbye and climbed into his own car. As soon as he backed out and started down the street, Claire took a deep breath and put her car back into gear. She made sure to keep at a safe distance as she began to formulate the rest of her plan.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for the reviews. I appreciate hearing what you all think. On to chapter 4. I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 4

Claire slowed as her father pulled into a parking lot. The copy shop. On the outside the building looked innocent, but then, so had Primatech. As Noah parked the car Claire watched Peter walk up to the window. Quietly she opened the door and stepped out onto the pavement. Peter and Noah headed towards the door. Claire crept in after them keeping at a distance. "Any thoughts what we're going to do with him," Peter's voice drifted towards Claire. Her eyes darted from side to side, looking for anyone who might give her away.

Noah shrugged. "I've been rolling it around in my mind. I think the best way to get rid of him is to cremate him." They stopped in front of what looked like a wall with a door in it and Claire had to pull up short to keep her distance. The door could just as easily have been the door to a supply closet. Noah Bennet knew better. Noah looked around before punching in a series of numbers. From her place around the corner, Claire watched carefully, trying to memorize the sequence of numbers. Claire heard a click, the whirring of gears and a section of the wall slid open to reveal a large window. Noah pressed another series of buttons and lights clicked on inside the room. He gestured for Peter to go ahead. "After you." Claire watched as the two men entered the room. She closed her eyes. So she had followed them here, she had gotten inside, she knew where they were keeping Sylar, now what? She couldn't just barge in there and demand that they release the body to her. Claire opened her eyes and almost shouted out in delight. Across the hall from her was an alarm. If she could trip that and get everyone out she could slide into the room, revive Sylar, and they could get away. At least, that's how it was supposed to work. After checking to see that the coast was clear, Claire crept across the hall and pulled the alarm.

Claire dashed back into her dark hiding place and cringed against the shrill warning sounds that followed. She watched the door and waited for her dad and Peter to leave.

Peter looked down at the body and shook his head. "Sorry son of a bitch…" He glanced over to the table next to the slab and watched Noah pick up a syringe. "What are you doing? I thought we were burning him."

"No sense wasting his blood. It could be useful. If it's taken on the same properties as Claire's, it could save people."

"That'd be the best thing he ever did for the world. Are you sure his blood would work the same way?"

"No, but there's no harm testing it." Noah lowered the needle to Sylar's as the alarm bells sounded.

Peter looked around. "What's that?" Noah jabbed the needle into Sylar's arm and pulled a pint of blood then grabbed Peter's arm.

"That's the fire alarm. We need to go." Noah stashed the blood in the satchel he was carrying with him and the men quickly exited the room.

"What about the body?" Peter asked as they hurried out of the building with everyone else.

"We were going to burn him anyway."

Claire waited until the last of the employees had passed her before she made her way over to the wall. In his haste to leave, Noah had neglected to close the door. Claire couldn't believe her luck. She began to grow wary. She had to get in and get out before anything went wrong. She ran into the room and looked down at Syalr. "Why am I doing this?" She asked out loud. "I'm not doing this." She turned back for the door, but found she couldn't go any further. She turned and walked back over to Sylar. "Don't make me regret this." She picked up a pair of tweezers and turned his head so she could access the wound. She bit her bottom lip as she found the bullet. As she pulled the bullet out blood began to pour from the wound. As quickly as it opened the wound closed. Sylar's eyes cleared and his head snapped forward to look at Claire.

Sylar's eyes focused. Quickly he took in his surroundings. He was in one of their prison cells. A place he knew all too well. He had never been in this particular facility, but they all looked the same. _Not again_. There was someone very close to him. They wouldn't trap him in here. He wouldn't be guinea pig to their experiments.

Sylar's hand flew up and Claire found herself pinned against the wall. He sat up, his hand closing, invisible, around Claire's throat. "Sylar," she choked out. Then he really looked at her. He let her go, helping her gently to the floor.

"What's going on?" he asked quietly. Claire slowly came towards him.

"Peter shot you. When you came to my house, he shot you. He and dad brought you here." The shock quickly wore off of Sylar's face and was replaced by a smirk.

"And you are?"

"I'm not sure. Saving you I guess, but I don't know why."

"Because you need me," Sylar mused. "Because I'm the only one who really understands what you're going through." Claire studied his face for a long time.

"Maybe, or maybe it's because I know Gabriel needs me." The alarms stopped. Claire ran to the door. The alarms had been shut off and people were coming back in. "Sylar, we need to get out of here." He jumped off the slab and followed Claire out into the hall. She could hear Peter's voice coming close. She grabbed Sylar's hand and ducked back into the corner. Peter came to the room where Sylar had been.

"Noah!" Peter bellowed. Noah came around the corner and stared at the empty slab.

"We have to find him," Noah said. His hand came down on a button on the wall of the cell. A new set of alarms sounded and the sudden slamming of doors told Claire that they were on lock down. She turned her scared eyes on Sylar silently pleading for him to think of something.

A/N: This chapter is kind of short. I tend to go off on twenty page rants sometimes and I'm trying to avoid doing that. I'll hopefully have a new chapter soon. Enjoy.


	5. Chapter 5

Here's chapter 5. I hope you enjoy. Thank you for the reviews. I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 5

Claire's eye silently pleaded for Sylar to think of something. They had to get out of here and now with everyone looking for an escaped prisoner there was no way they were just going to be able to walk out. She was tired of planning and found that her mind would not allow her to formulate a plan to get them out of this. Sylar looked back down into her eyes blankly. "Please…" she whispered to him. He looked back down the hall. They had some time.

"Claire, I think I have an idea. You have to trust me and you have to let me do the talking. In fact, I need you to stay as invisible as possible."

Claire watched down the hall. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to walk right out the front door." Claire's head snapped up and she found herself looking, not at Sylar, but at a man she had never seen before. He was shorter, middle-aged, and a bit round around the mid-section. He looked down at her, his green eyes shining at her from behind thick glasses. "Keep your head down Claire and don't speak." He grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the hall. Claire kept her head down, staring straight ahead. Feet kept passing them, but nobody stopped them. Clair could see bottom of the door getting closer and her heart leapt. They were going to make it. Somebody stopped in front of them and Claire had to suppress a scream as her father's voice came out of the person's mouth.

"We're on lockdown. We had someone escape during the fire drill."

Sylar sounded shocked as he spoke. "Which one?"

"Sylar," Noah practically growled. Claire closed her eyes, waiting for the blows to come. Noah had figured it out. He knew this man was Sylar. A long moment passed and nothing happened. Claire let out a quiet, relieved sigh.

"No," Sylar breathed. "If he got out while the alarms were going off, he probably got out of the building."

"You haven't seen him have you?"

"I haven't. I'm sorry." Peter came up behind them. Claire pinched Sylar's hand as if to underline the fact that they had to get out. If anyone could figure it out, it would be Peter and given his wide range of abilities that was dangerous.

"Noah, he's not back there." Sylar wrapped an arm around Claire's shoulder and ushered her around Noah.

Noah was too preoccupied with finding Sylar to stop them again. "He's not in the building anymore," he told Peter confidently. "We need to go out and look for him." Noah entered a series of numbers into another pad on the wall and door clicked open. He tore his eyes away from the pad and watched the man and his female companion continue towards the door. There was something familiar about the girl. "Hey!" he shouted out to Sylar. "Who's that with you?" Suddenly Sylar pushed Claire in front of him. He turned and, with a snap of his wrist, he sent Noah and Peter flying back down the hall. Without waiting to see their response he and Claire closed the distance to the door and ran out into the parking lot.

"Claire, where's the car?" She pointed looking up briefly to see that the unfamiliar man had disappeared and Sylar was now running beside her. Before they even reached the vehicle the doors flew open. "Keys."

"But…"

"There's no time to argue about it. I would hot wire it, but there's no time for that either." Grumbling, Claire pulled the keys out of her pocket and tossed them to Sylar. They dove into the car and Sylar started it up. Claire looked up to see her dad and Noah rushing to climb into Noah's car.

"Sylar, drive!" Sylar's foot slammed his foot down on the gas and the car roared out of the parking lot. He pulled out onto the busy road nearly side-swiping a passing sedan. "Watch it!" she shouted at Sylar. His fists tightened on the steering wheel.

"Are they still behind us?" he snapped. Claire turned in her seat and looked out the back window.

"I don't see them."

"Maybe they got stuck in traffic," he said hopefully. Claire shook her head and settled back in her seat.

"Just keep going. I can't even imagine what my dad's going to do to me when he catches me." Sylar smirked at her.

"We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen."

"Just because I didn't see them doesn't mean they aren't back there." Sylar sighed and took Claire's hand turning to look at her. Claire looked up into his eyes

"I'm sure they're back there somewhere, but they still have to look out for the cops. If they get pulled over and the cops find out about Peter, they'll have more to worry about than a ticket." Sylar turned back to look at the road and Claire's eyes flicked down to the speedometer.

"That goes double for us. Slow down." She leaned against the window watching the freeway fly by them.

Peter slammed his hand down on the dash board. "Can't you go faster? That monster has Claire and God knows what he's going to do with her!" Noah looked over at him.

"Panic isn't going to help anything, Peter. Lately there are agents everywhere. For your sake, we can't risk getting pulled over."

"What was she doing there?" Peter said, more to himself than to Noah. "We still don't know who pulled the alarm, who got him out." Noah pursed his lips as he spared Peter a slightly apologetic glance.

"I hate to break this to you, but I think _that_ is what Claire was doing there. What I can't figure out is why? If it's some act of defiance towards me, why would she put herself in danger like that?"

"You've worked hard to protect her. Putting herself in danger is the ultimate act of defiance," Peter answered.

"That's very deep of you, Petrelli," Noah growled. "Do you see the car anywhere?"

"I lost it the minute they pulled out of the parking lot."

"Keep looking. They can't have gone far."

Claire woke up as a soft breeze ruffled her hair. She sat up and looked around noticing that she was still in the car, it was parked, and she was alone. A sudden panic gripped her as she surveyed her surroundings. Noah and Peter must have caught up her still groggy brain told her. Why had they left her parked here in the car? Maybe they were coming back for her as soon as they dealt with Sylar. She unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car. They were parked next to the beach. Claire looked around. If they were coming back for her, Claire had to get out of here. She had done plenty of things against her father's wishes, but she knew that following him, sneaking into his secret facility, and freeing his most dangerous criminal were on a whole different level. She would disappear down the beach. It would take them hours to figure out where she had gone and, hopefully, by then she would be long gone. She grabbed her jacket off the seat and made her way down onto the beach. A movement caught the corner of her eye and she turned towards it. Sylar was sitting in the sand, staring out into the waves. "You're awake," he said softly.

"I thought Peter and Noah had taken you. I woke up and you were gone. I just thought the worst."

"Not the very worst. It could have been that I abandoned you." She came to sit next to him and he looked up at her briefly before looking back down at his hands. "I almost did."

"What?"

"I thought about leaving you there. Making my way out onto the road and letting them find me."

"Why would you do that?" Claire asked in disbelief. "If they caught you, they would take you back, figure out what they could from you and kill you."

"Maybe it would be better for the world if they did," he said so softly that she almost didn't hear him. Claire glared at him before punching him, hard. Caught off guard, Sylar was sent sprawling onto his back in the sand. Without missing a beat, Claire leaned down and gathered the front of his shirt up in her fist, cocking her other fist back to hit him again. He looked up at her in shock.

"After all the trouble I went to to spring you from that place, after I defied my father, you would just give yourself up?!" Sylar began laughing and Claire tried to punch him again. Putting a hand up he managed to stay her fist.

"Why did you come after me?" he asked. "Why didn't you just let them kill me?"

"Because I believed you," she answered venomously. "I thought that maybe-"

"What, that you could fix me?" He shoved her off and got to his feet. "Good luck with that. I've tried to fix me. It didn't work out so well." Claire balled up her fists at her side.

"I saw it in your eyes last night when you came to my house. You want to change, you want to be a different person." He came close so that his face was inches from hers.

"Do yourself a favor Claire. Save yourself some disappointment and leave me alone. Nothing can fix me." He stepped away from her and began to walk away. She started after him. "Go back to the car Claire and go home. The road that I turned off onto is hidden. It's getting dark and they've probably passed it by now. You should be safe." He didn't turn to look at her. He didn't want to see any hurt or disappointment that might mar her features. Underneath her anger and frustration he knew he would see the same expression he had seen on his mother's face when she had figured out that her son was really a monster, and he couldn't take that again. Not from Claire.

Tears streaming down her cheeks, Claire watched him walk away; disappearing in the gathering darkness. She stood for what felt like an eternity before making her way back up to the car. She opened the door and found a piece of paper laying on the driver's seat. It was directions to get back onto the freeway. She crumbled the paper and threw it onto the passenger's seat. She got in and found the keys in the ignition. True to what he had said, he had been planning to leave her there. It must have been pity that had kept him there long enough to give her a heads up. Claire felt stupid. How could she have thought that she could change him. He had used her. He had played on her sympathies and she had fallen for it and saved him. She took a deep breath and got control of herself. It had been a mistake, but not one that she would make again. The next time he was in trouble, he could get himself out of it. With this new resolve she made her way back out onto the road and headed home, hoping, as Peter had hoped yesterday, that Sylar got caught.

A/N: Claire's really mad. I hope to have the next part of it up soon. I hope you enjoy this one.


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you for the reviews. Here's chapter 6. I apologize for my other chapters. There are scenes that are supposed to be of different characters and I tried to separate them by leaving a lot of space between the paragraphs. That doesn't really come out once I put it on the site. I'll be using stars to separate scenes from here out. I apologize if it caused any confusion.

Disc: I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 6

Claire sat in her driveway and stared at her house. Her dad's car wasn't there so she knew he hadn't made it home yet. She took a deep breath. Claire had no idea what she was going to say when she saw Noah. She could only think to tell him the truth. Maybe if she could will back some of the tears… She got out of the car and went inside. "Claire, you're home," her mother remarked as she stepped out of the kitchen.

"Hey, mom."

"How was the library?" For a fraction of a second Claire was confused before she caught herself. "Oh, it was good." Her mom smiled.

"I'm just finishing dinner. Go get washed up." Claire nodded and turned to head upstairs. The sound of the door opening stopped her.

"Claire," Noah said through clenched teeth, "we need to talk, right now." Noah walked into his study without waiting to see whether or not Claire followed. Claire took another deep breath before following her father. She had gone over in her head at least a dozen times now what she was going to say. As she looked at her father all of her excuses flew out the window. For a long moment neither of them spoke. Suddenly Noah slammed his hand down on the desk making Claire jump. "What were you thinking?!"

"Dad I-…" Claire sighed. "I wasn't thinking. I guess, I thought that I could fix him or something. It was a mistake and it won't happen again. I'm sorry."

Noah grabbed Claire's shoulders. "Claire, Sylar is a dangerous killer. He could have really hurt you! Not to mention the fact that he's out loose somewhere now." Claire grimaced.

"He's already hurt me as much as he can! I knew what I was doing. He saved my life when we were stuck in the warehouse. I couldn't just leave him there. I just thought that-…"

"Don't argue with me Claire. That's not the point! You defied me, you snuck into my facility, and freed a dangerous criminal. What am I going to do with you Claire?! I try my hardest to protect you, but I can't do it if you won't help me."

"I said I was sorry!" Claire snapped back. Noah glared at her and Claire shrank back a little. "You didn't catch him?"

Noah sighed and let go of Claire. He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "No. After he left the parking lot we lost you guys in traffic. We drove for four hours before circling back around. Peter wanted to go back and look for tracks, but it was dark by the time we got back to the facility."

"Molly could probably find him."

Noah shook his head. "Peter promised Matt that he wouldn't ask again."

"Dad, I'm sorry," Claire said softly. "I should have just left him there." Claire found tears welling up in her eyes again.

"Claire-bear, we'll find him. Just promise me you won't put yourself in danger like that again."

"I won't dad."

"Claire, Noah? Dinners ready," Sandra called through the door.

"We'll be right out sweetheart," Noah answered before turning back to Claire. He hugged her. "Go get ready for dinner."

"Okay." Claire turned for the door.

"Oh, and Claire?" She stopped and faced her father.

"You're grounded."

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Sylar sat in the crowded bar and tried his best to keep his head down. It was some dark seedy dive that was called The Oasis or something obvious like that. He was on the bottom of his second glass of whiskey and he didn't feel any better. After he had walked away from Claire guilt had washed over him heavier than anything he had felt since Brian Davis. He hadn't even killed anybody. Maybe he was getting sensitive. He signaled the bartender for another drink. "S'girl?" Sylar turned on his stool to look at the drunk man sitting next to him. "I know that look. I've been there. She stomped on your heart and left you there didn't she?"

Sylar shook his head and turned back to his third drink. "Not exactly."

"S'happened to me before. Never looked back." Sylar laid two twenties on the bar. He patted the man on the back.

"Better luck next time. It's on me." Sylar walked away from the bar.

"You should go after her!" The man yelled after him. "I wish I'da gone after mine." Sylar shook his head again and exited the bar. He breathed in the cool night air. He turned and started walking again. Sylar was beginning to feel the calming effects of the alcohol, but it only took a little bit of the edge off. It didn't make him feel any less guilty about hurting her like that. Sylar growled. Why should he feel guilty? He was Sylar. Supervillian. He had done so much more to be guilty about than hurting a little girl's feelings. He couldn't figure out what it was about Claire that did this to him, and it bothered him. He could figure anything out. He wasn't used to not knowing. The puzzle tugged at him. He turned back in the direction that would take him to her house. She had saved his life, the least he could do was thank her.

*************************************************************************************

Claire hugged her mother and father and said goodnight. She headed up to her room ready to fall into bed. The events of the day had drained her more than she had known. She sat on the edge of her bed and took stock of everything that had happened. She was thankful that after everything she had done, her punishment had been light. She had a curfew of 4:30 now, so no going and hanging out with friends. Not that she had any friends to hang out with anyway. Noah had laid out her punishment as they had cleaned up the kitchen together. Cleaning the kitchen for a month had been another one of the terms of her punishment. It was nothing she couldn't handle.

What was worse than her punishment, was the lingering feeling of hurt over Sylar's abandonment of her. She tried to reason with herself that she was upset about the wasted effort. She had gone to a lot of trouble to get him out and he had blown her off. If she was being completely honest with herself she knew that a big part of the way she felt was due to the fact that she had believed that Sylar could be changed. When he had walked away, she had lost the chance of finding a relationship with the only person who really understood what it was like to be her. Sylar was right, she needed him.

She laid down and closed her eyes, willing sleep to come. She heard her parents go into their bedroom and shut the door. She thought she heard a click downstairs, but the house was settling and she was a bit on the jumpy side right now. Slowly Claire drifted off into a restless sleep.

*************************************************************************************

Sylar raised his hand and heard the lock click. Quietly he slipped into the Bennet house, closing and locking the door behind him. He made his way up to Claire's room. He knew exactly where it was from his first visit to the house. How things had changed since those days. He smiled in anticipation as he reached her door and entered. He looked down into Claire's face. Even in her sleep she looked upset. Another pang of guilt sliced through him. He knew he was the cause of her distress. Sleep should be peaceful. Softly he brushed a strand of hair out of her face. She stirred and her eyes fluttered open. Her jaw dropped and she sucked in a deep breath when she saw him.

"Hello Claire."


	7. Chapter 7

Here's chapter 7. Sorry about the cliff hanger. Enjoy!

I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 7

Claire stared up at Sylar wide-eyed. "Hello Claire," he smiled down at her. A scream rose in her throat and Sylar's hand came down on her mouth. "Shhh… You don't want to wake mommy and daddy do you?" Claire grumbled something angrily. "You have to promise you won't scream." Claire's promise came out muffled. "That's good enough." He slowly pulled his hand back and Claire sat up.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered. He shrugged.

"I felt bad…the way I left things. I was…confused."

"Confused about what? I saved you and you just walked away like it was nothing." Sylar sat down on the edge of the bed. He looked down at his hands, formulating his next question.

"Why?" he asked. Claire glared at him.

"Why what?"

He looked up at her. "Why are you so hell bent on saving me?"

"Because I thought I saw in your eyes that you could change. I was wrong. Forgive me." Sylar moved almost too quickly for Claire to see. Before she knew what was going on, he was on top of her. "Get off of me." He snapped his fingers shut and Claire found that she could no longer open her mouth.

"Why is everyone always trying to change me? Why are you?" He released the hold on her mouth and looked at her expectantly.

"I wasn't doing it for your sake. I was doing it for Gabriel," Claire spat.

"They're one and the same," he snapped back. He cocked his head to one side. "Why do you care?"

"I don't know," Claire said quietly. "I've been trying to figure that out since before I came for you."

"Claire, I'm not worth it…"

"Not if you keep saying that."

"Claire, I met my father, I've seen my future and-" Acting on impulse, Claire cut him off with a kiss. He froze, stunned. She pulled away quickly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't…" There was a soft knock on the door. Sylar got up quickly and went to the window. "Where are you going?" He came back.

"Claire, this isn't the best time to continue this." He found a pen and paper on her bedside table and scribbled down an address. "If you still want to talk, you can find me here." He hesitated before bending down and kissing her forehead. Before Claire could speak, he was gone.

"Claire?" her mother's voice drifted through the door. "Are you alright? I heard voices." Claire got up and opened the door.

"Mom," she said sleepily, "I was just having a bad dream." Her mother looked at her sympathetically.

"Oh, Claire, do you want to talk about it?"

Claire shook her head. "I'm okay now." She hugged her mother. "Goodnight, mom."

"Goodnight, sweetheart. Sleep well."

"You too." Claire shut the door and went back to sit on her bed. She shook herself. She had kissed him. She didn't know where that had come from. Claire picked up the paper that Sylar had left. The address was surprisingly close to her house. She looked at the clock. It was too late to go tonight. Sighing Claire looked back toward the window he had gone out before laying down and drifting off to sleep.

*************************************************************************************

Sylar tossed his jacket over a chair and sank down onto his sofa. He stared at the wall, in a daze. She had kissed him. It had been unexpected but, he found, not unwelcome. He brushed his fingers over his lips and shut his eyes. He wondered if Claire would come, he hoped that she would. If their talks were going to end up like that all the time, he was looking forward to having more of them. He looked at the clock. It was late. He didn't expect her tonight. He turned off the lights and headed into his bedroom. That night as he slept, he dreamed of Claire.

*************************************************************************************

Claire looked down at the piece of paper then back up at the building. It was an old building that was cracked and falling apart. There were bricks missing in places and more than one of the windows was either full of bullet holes or boarded up. Despite its dilapidated state, Claire was surprised that the building had a doorman. He was as seedy looking as the rest of the building and he glared at Claire from underneath his shaggy hair. Claire quickly figured out that he wasn't a door man and made her way past him. This was definitely a bad neighborhood. Her father would kill her if he knew she was here. That was why she had told him that she was going to the library. She was really going to have to find a new place to be when she didn't want her father to know where she really was. She made her way up the stairs, avoiding a man who had passed out drunk halfway up the second set of stairs. Finally she reached the floor she wanted and found apartment 3C. Hesitantly, she knocked. She waited a few minutes and nothing happened. Maybe he was out. She shuddered when she thought about what he might be out doing. Claire sighed. What was she even doing here? Did she really want to talk to him? She shook her head and turned to walk away, figuring it would be best to leave things alone. Behind her the door opened. "Claire?" She turned back around and Sylar was standing there in nothing but a towel from the waist down. She looked down quickly, blushing.

"Did you, um, just get out of the shower?"

"Hmm?" He looked down. "Oh. Um, come on in. I'll go put on some clothes." Claire timidly stepped around him into the apartment which was surprisingly clean and well ordered.

"I don't know why I'm here," she muttered to the bookshelves.

"I assumed you'd come because you wanted to talk." Claire spun around as Sylar stepped out of his room fully dressed. "Is that why you came? Or was there something else you wanted."

Claire looked back at the bookshelves. She stepped over and began examining the titles. "Shakespeare?" She raised an eyebrow at Sylar. He shrugged. "I've been thinking about it." She walked over to him. "You were right. We do need each other. You and I, we're going to live forever. I think…that's why I saved you. Because, if you die, it's just me."

He cocked his head. "What about Peter?"

"He's my uncle, that's…it's not the same."

Sylar looked into Claire's eyes for a long moment. "Claire, I realize that I hurt you. I'm sorry for all that I've done to you. I'm trying to figure out who I am. I'm trying to be different." He threw up his hands and stalked away. "But it's so hard! I don't know how to be anything other than what I have been." Claire put a hand on Sylar's arm.

"I think…I can help you. If you'll let me."

"Claire, I'm-…"

"Don't say you're not worth it. If you're serious about it, I'll do what I can. There was a time that I knew I would hate you forever, but there was a voice in my head that said it was pointless. I was trying to ignore it, but then, in the warehouse, you saved me. I didn't know what to think."

Sylar smiled. "Your father is going to be so upset that you're hanging out with me."

"He doesn't have to know. Not yet."

"Where did you tell him you were going?" Claire smiled sheepishly.

"The library."

"How long do you think he's going to believe that?" Claire shrugged. "I can count on one hand the number of people who have given a damn about who I was. I'll try not to let you down," Sylar said sincerely. Claire smiled and turned to walk back to the bookshelf. With a snap of his wrist stopped her and spun her back around. Claire looked at him in shock.

"Let me go," she said through clenched teeth. He moved towards her and released her from his hold.

"Last night, you kissed me," he said quietly, his face inches from hers.

"I'm not sure why I did that. I was trying to shut you up and-" Suddenly his lips were on hers. She tensed for a moment before leaning into him. She wound her arms around him and pulled him closer. Claire found she wanted more of him. They both jumped when her phone rang. She pulled away and looked at it. Sighing, she answered. "Hi dad."

"Claire," her father sounded angry. "I'm sitting in front of the library and you're car isn't there. Where are you really?"

She looked at Sylar. "I'll be home soon dad. I'll explain everything." Without waiting for Noah's answer she hung up. "I have to go. Dad knows I'm not at the library."

"What will you tell him?"

"I don't know. I'll come up with something on the drive home."

"When will I see you again?"

"Soon." She kissed him again, then she was gone. He sat down and looked at the door.

"Oh Claire," he said softly, "you're going to be my undoing."

A/N: There it is. Sorry it took me a bit to get this one up. I wanted to do it right and I've been working on making a Spock shirt for my friend's mom. I'll try to get the next one up quicker. Enjoy.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you all for reviewing. So I finished the third season finally and I'm not really sure what timeline this story is supposed to fit into because I started the story when I had only seen a few episodes. It's supposed to take place after "Invisible Thread" for the most part, but I realize I've already messed some stuff up so I ask that you bear with me. It's assumed in this chapter that after the events of the last season, Claire started going back to school at Noah's insistence. It's not really important to the story, but I wanted to mention it since I made reference to school. Enough babbling, onto chapter 8.

I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 8

Claire came in and found Noah waiting for her. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Where were you?" For a moment Claire's mind raced. _I was off getting very well acquainted with Sylar_, she thought. The thought sent shivers down her spine. She shook herself and smiled apologetically at her father.

"I'm sorry, dad. My friend Tanner called me and I went out to meet her at the mall."

"You're grounded Claire. The only places you should be are school or home. I make allowances for the library because I realize it's necessary at times."

"I'm sorry," she repeated. "It won't happen again." Claire kissed him on the cheek, softening his expression.

She turned to head up to her room when Noah's voice stopped her. "Peter's out with Parkman hunting for Sylar."

"Oh?"

"He thinks they're getting close."

"Well…that's good. It'll be nice to be rid of him."

"Claire, I don't have to tell you that I'd like you to stay out of the middle of this as much as possible. With the agents and Sylar running loose, it could be dangerous."

"Don't worry about me dad. I'll just be upstairs serving out my sentence." He held her gaze for a moment longer before she broke away and headed up to her room. Once inside she shut the door and laid down on her bed. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander back to Sylar's apartment. She had promised to help him. She just hoped that she was up to it. She let her mind drift further to the moment that his lips had covered hers. His lips were warm, soft, and obviously well practiced. Claire sighed. She shivered again as she thought about it. Her body had ached to take things farther, to pull him closer, to let him have his way with her.

"Claire," her mom's voice drifted through the door, startling Claire out of her thoughts.

"Yeah mom?"

"Lyle and I are going to the pet store to get Mr. Muggles a new collar. Would you like to come?"

"No, I'm grounded, remember?"

"Oh, okay. I'll explain it to your father if you want to come."

"That's okay mom. I'll stay here."

"Alright. Well, your dad went into work. We'll be back soon."

"Have fun." She heard the front door close. She closed her eyes and her mind drifted back to Sylar. She barely heard it when her bedroom door opened. He was already beside her before she realized he was there. Her eyes flew open and she gasped. "What are you doing here?" Sylar smiled down at her.

"I was coming back from buying groceries and I found Peter and Matt in my apartment, so I left. I thought you would be happy to see me."

"You shouldn't be in my house. If my parents come home and find you here…"

"I'll be quiet. May I?" He indicated the bed and Claire moved over so that he could sit next to her. He leaned back against the headboard and closed his eyes. Claire rolled onto her side and propped herself up on her elbow so that she could look at him.

"I guess if I'm going to help you, I should get to know you better." He turned his head to look at her.

"What would you like to know?"

"You said you were adopted. What happened?" Sylar shook his head.

"I'd rather not start there."

"Okay. What kind of hobbies do you have…besides…"

"I like to fix watches. Or, at least, that's what I used to do. It gave me something to think about."

"Do you do it anymore?" Sylar stared at the wall.

"I haven't in a while."

"But you could."

"I could, but I don't think that's what I'm meant for. My mother always thought that I could be more than that. I always felt that I was meant for more than that too." Claire shook her head.

"There's nothing wrong with doing that, if that's what you like to do. It's more productive than killing people." Sylar nodded.

"In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really help either."

"It's good honest work. It may not be world changing, but it's something. Over the time that I've known you, I've noticed that you're driven by the need to be someone more than yourself. Why do you do that?"

"I don't like being nobody. Gabriel was nobody."

"I think I like Gabriel a lot more than Sylar." Sylar was about to respond when Claire moved closer to him, draping an arm over him. He hesitated before wrapping his arms around her. It was silent for a long time before he spoke again.

"My father needed money," he started. "When I was about 7 or 8 he took me to a diner. I didn't know what we were doing there, but I saw him talking to a man then, the man gave him some money. My father called me over and handed me to the man. Then…he just walked out. He left me there and walked out. I ran out after him, but he was already in the car." Claire looked up at Sylar's face and saw that tears had started forming in his eyes. "He killed my mother." Claire sucked in a breath. "I watched him do it. Then he drove off." Sylar looked down at Claire. "This hunger that I have, this uncontrollable urge to become more, it came from him."

"And fixing watches?"

"…Came from my adoptive father. He owned a business. I worked there. I found that I had a talent for it. It made sense to me, like nothing else had. But I always felt like I needed more. My mother, Virginia Gray, she always seemed disappointed. She always wanted me to be different. All my life up until now it seems like I've been somebody's tool. I guess part of me thinks that if I become powerful enough, no one will be able to use me." Claire reached up and stroked his face, wiping away the tears that had started to fall.

"You have to kill people to do that?"

"All my life I've wanted to be special. All my life I've wished I was more than the son of a watchmaker. These people who have these abilities…they don't even want them. Given the chance, they would just throw them away. They don't deserve those powers. I take them off their hands for them."

"You have a chance to change things that are happening now. You're special. With the abilities you've acquired, the power to detect when someone is lying, the shape-shifting, you have the power to help us fix things."

"You may see it that way, but what about Peter, Noah… I don't think they'll see it that way."

"You'll have to gain their trust, but in the end, they'll have to concede that this is about all of us. Those agents aren't picky about which ones of us they take down. Peter will realize that we need each other. You have the power to be anyone you need to be. That makes you and important part of the resistance."

"What if I told you that I just wanted to fix watches?"

"I'm not going to force you to help us. If you want to fix watches, that's fine. You can do what you want. I just thought that-…" He pulled her up to him and kissed her deeply.

"That's all I've wanted to hear my whole life." He kissed her again and Claire surprised him by moving so that she was straddling him. She wrapped her arms around him, running one hand up through his hair. She pulled him closer to deepen the kiss even more. Claire gasped when she felt Sylar's tongue press against her lips. She parted her lips slightly, granting him access. Without breaking the kiss Sylar rolled them over so that he was on top of her. He pulled back to look in her eyes. "We can stop if you want to. I may be a lot of not so great things, but I'm not going to force you to do anything you're not comfortable with."

Claire knew what he was saying. He was offering her an out before things went too far. "I-…it's okay…"

He brushed the hair back from her face. "Have you ever?..." Claire blushed a deep red.

"I've kissed boys before, but…I've never…" Claire shifted her eyes to avoid his gaze. He bent down to kiss her again.

"Claire," he trailed kisses down her neck, "do you trust me?"

"Yes," Claire whispered after a moment. A strange tingling ran through Sylar's body and he shook his head.

"Let's hold off on this until you can say that and really mean it." In the brief silence that followed Claire heard her phone. The sound alerted her that she had a new voice message. Sylar moved so that he was laying beside her. She picked up her phone to listen to her message.

_Claire, it's Peter. We're at Sylar's place. He rabbited. He could be coming for you. Keep your eyes open. Matt and I are on our way to your house… _ Peter's message was interrupted by a sudden crash.

"What are they doing to my apartment?" Sylar asked. In the message Peter was shouting to Matt and then there was a thud and everything stopped. Other voices picked up on the phone for a moment before the line went dead.

"Peter?" Claire stared at her phone.

"The agents have them," Sylar said confidently.

"We have to save them." Claire jumped up. "You don't know where they take them do you?" Sylar sighed.

"As I matter of fact, I do."

"Will you…help me get in there to save Peter and Matt?" He stood.

"I will, but not for them. I'll do it for you." Claire nodded. They rushed downstairs where Claire wrote her parents a quick note before they headed out of the house. She hoped that her father would understand. This was the opposite of staying out of the middle of it, but Claire didn't have time to worry about that now.


	9. Chapter 9

I hope that you enjoyed chapter 8. Sorry for the almost lemons, I thought it was a little too soon to do that. Anyway…onto chapter 9. Enjoy.

Chapter 9

Sylar and Claire climbed into Claire's car. She found herself once again in the passenger seat, not that she was in any condition to drive. She was still shaken by what had almost taken place between her and Sylar. In attempt to distract herself she focused on the mission at hand. She looked over at Sylar. "How do you know where the agents took them? Don't tell me you're secretly working with them." Sylar looked at Claire out of the corner of his eye.

"You realley don't trust me do you?" Claire shrugged.

"Can you blame me?" Sylar didn't answer he turned back to face the road.

"I know because when they caught me they took me there."

"They caught you? I thought you got away."

"I did get away that day we got stuck in the warehouse, but I wasn't so lucky a week or so before that."

"How did a bunch of agents manage to get the drop on you?" Sylar felt flattered that Claire would be impressed by that.

"They ambushed me. Admittedly I wasn't paying the kind of attention I should have been and they've gotten more skilled with their tranquillizers."

"But you got away."

"They were still underestimating me. I imagine it won't be so easy to get out this time."

"How are we going to get in there? Once we get them free, Parkman can probably get us out, but we can't just walk in there."

"Not without stacking the deck in our favor," Sylar answered. He stopped in front of a building and looked up towards the third floor.

"What do you mean?" He got out of the car and waited for Claire to follow.

"We need to shut down their security systems. The person who can do that is here." They went inside and Sylar led Claire up the stairs. Sylar knocked on the door and waited a moment before the tenant answered. "Hello, Micah."

Micah stared up at Sylar. "This doesn't count," he said, "you came to see me."

Sylar smiled. "I know that. We came because we need your help." Claire was confused.

"Sylar who…?"

"Claire, have you never met, Rebel?" Her eyes widened.

"But you're just a kid."

Sylar nodded. "A kid with an amazing power."

"What can I do for you?" Micah asked.

"The agents took a couple of our…acquaintances. We need to get in to get them."

"And you need me to shut down the security system so that you can get in?"

"Can you do it?" Micah shrugged.

"Sure I can, but I don't know how long I'll be able to keep them off."

"Can you guarantee us 10 minutes? We just need to get in there. Once we have Parkman we should be able to get back out."

"When you get there give me a call and I'll shut it down. You'll have at most 10 minutes before they figure out how to get it turned back on. I knew I was right to believe in you."

"Kid, if this ends non-violently, then you can believe in me." He took Claire's hand. "We'll call you."

"It was nice meeting you, Micah," Claire said softly.

"You too, Claire." She and Sylar left the apartment. Once they were back in the car, Claire turned to face Sylar.

"Thank you for helping me save Peter." Sylar shrugged. "Do you think this'll work."

"This is the best chance we have." Twenty minutes later Sylar was pulling into an alley next to a non-descript brick building. He and Claire slid out of the car and crept around to the door. Sylar took out his phone and made the call to Micah. "We're outside Micah. Shut it down." Claire didn't know what she expected to happen, but she was sure she wasn't expecting nothing to happen.

"Is it off?" she whispered. They looked up when the security camera above the door turned to point at the door.

"Nothing left to do, but to check," Sylar said. He crept forward and pulled on the door. He let out the breath he was holding when the door swung open and no alarms sounded. No agents rushed to stop them. He motioned for Claire to follow him. "Quickly. Micah said he could only guarantee 10 minutes. Be careful though. By now they've figured out there's something wrong with their systems and they'll be looking." Claire nodded as she kept pace with him. "They keep prisoners up on the fifth floor." Claire turned towards the elevator bay and Sylar grabbed her arm. "We're taking the stairs." They ran to the door that led to the stairwell and Sylar pulled it open, stepping aside so that Claire could run past him.

"Freeze!" a man's voice yelled at the end of the hall. Sylar's hand flew up and the man was propelled backwards into the wall behind him. Once Claire was past Sylar he followed her. After a hard run up the stairs they reached the fifth floor and Sylar stopped Claire once again.

"They could be outside the door," he told her quietly.

"Great," she responded. Sylar snapped his hand up and the door flew backwards into the hall. Claire could tell by the shocked screams that came from behind the door that there had been agents waiting for them. He took Claire's hand and they made their way carefully into the hallway. "Left or right?" Claire asked. Sylar looked down each end of the hallway before turning to the left.

"This way." He stopped and put something in her hand. She looked down and gripped the taser he had placed there.

"Where did you get this?"

"Micah's. Do you know how to use it?" Claire nodded. "Don't hesitate to do so." They moved on. Halfway down the hall Sylar stopped again. "Matt's in here. The next one over must be Peter. Get to Matt, wake him up." He looked at his watch. "Hurry we only have 3 minutes." Without another word Sylar ran into Peter's room. Claire watched him go before turning to try the door to Matt's room. She was surprised when it opened. She ran to Matt's side and unhooked the tubes that were stuck all over his body. Slowly his eyes fluttered open. "Claire?" He sat up and took a moment waiting for the room to stop spinning. "How did you get in here?"

"Rebel turned off the security systems and Sylar…"

"Sylar?"

*************************************************************************************

Sylar quickly unhooked Peter and woke him up. As soon as Peter saw Sylar, he jumped off the table, landing in a defensive crouch. "What are you doing here?" he bellowed. Sylar held up his hands.

"I'm here to get you out of here," he answered. "And before you ask, I'm not here because I care what happens to you. I'm here because Claire cares what happens to you."

"Is…Did you bring her here?"

"She's getting Parkman out and we have to hurry. We're running out of time. " Sylar ran back into the hall and ran into Claire and Parkman. Still confused, Peter followed Sylar out. As they stood there alarms began shrieking. "We're out of time," Sylar said quietly. Right on cue agents began pouring from each end of the long hall to surround them. Miraculously the agents moved around them as if they hadn't seen them. Claire looked up at Parkman. When the agents had moved on Sylar smiled at Matt.

"That was impressive, Mr. Parkman."

"Thanks," Matt answered. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to get out before more of them come," Claire said franticalley. Sylar grabbed Claire's hand again and headed back to the stairwell door. Matt and Peter followed exchanging confused looks. After another couple of tense moments and close calls, the foursome found themselves back outside. Sylar led the way back to the alley where Claire's car was parked and they climbed in. "We made it," she breathed. A moment of silence passed as Sylar started the car and pulled slowly down the alley. "Thank you," Claire finalley said.

"You're welcome," he answered. Peter leaned over the seat.

"Since when are the two of you friends?" he spat. Claire turned to face him.

"Since he saved my life back in that warehouse."

"Claire, Sylar is…"

"Not up for discussion," she interrupted. "If dad wants to get on my case about it that's one thing, but I don't need you on my case too Peter. I just need you to trust that I know what I'm doing." Without another word she turned back to stare at the road. Shortly after Sylar pulled up outside Parkman's apartment and both he and Peter exited the car.

"Claire," Peter warned, "Don't let him fool you into thinking he's a nice guy. He's still a killer." Sylar didn't wait for him to finish before he threw the car into drive and stomped his foot down onto the accelerator. He didn't even really give a damn if Peter managed to move. As he drove down the road he glance back in the mirror somewhat dismayed to see Peter still standing.

"Sylar?"

"Hmm…"

"Don't worry about what Peter said. I trust you." Sylar waited for the tingling sensation that would tell him she was lying, but it never came. He turned to her and smiled.

"You really mean that," he stated taking her hand. She nodded.

"Let's see if I can convince my father now." The turned and stared straight ahead as Sylar pulled into the driveway next to Noah's car.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: It's been a minute since I updated. I'm sorry. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. Still no lemons, but soon.

Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 10

Claire climbed out of the car and was halfway to the door when she noticed Sylar hadn't followed. He was sitting in the driver's seat staring at the door. One hand was snarled in his hair. She knocked on the window. He rolled it down. "Yes?"

"Are you coming?" Sylar looked from Claire to the house. "If we don't go in now, he'll come out here. You're just delaying the inevitable."

"Maybe I should just go," he said quietly. Claire pulled his door open.

"Don't be ridiculous. The only way to get all of this to stop is to show Dad that you can be trusted. Then we can all work together to stop the agents." Sighing, Sylar stepped out of the car.

"Alright. What should I say?"

"Let me do the talking. Hopefully he'll listen to me." They entered the house and were immediately confronted by Noah. He looked from one to the other before focusing his attention on Claire.

"Where have you been and what in the hell is he doing here?" He stabbed a finger in Sylar's direction.

"He was bringing me home. We were just-…"

"I don't care what you were just, Claire. I don't know how many times I have to tell you you're grounded! It's dangerous out there and I can't take care of you if you keep disobeying me. And what's worse, you willingly bring danger into this household!" Once again he stabbed a finger in Sylar's direction.

"Watch where you point that Noah, or I might have to show you mine," Sylar smiled. Claire glared up at him. _Stop it,_ she mouthed. Before Claire could respond to Noah, his phone rang.

"You stay right here, both of you. I'm not done with you yet." He picked up his phone and turned his back to them. "Hello?...He what?" Noah glanced over his shoulder at Sylar, his eyebrow raised in confusion. "I'll see you in a bit Peter." He hung up and turned back around to look at Sylar. "That was Peter. He said, you saved him."

"Claire asked me to."

"I was trying to tell you that, Dad. This is why I saved him after Peter killed him. I had to give him the chance to do the right thing. I could see that he had it in him."

"That doesn't mean anything. We still don't know that Sylar can be trusted."

"I know dad. He has a long way to go to gain our trust, but he's not going to be able to if we don't give him a chance to. I'll take responsibility for him."

"He's not a puppy Claire. He's a killer."

"I can help you," Sylar spoke up. "You've worked with me before. You know what I can do, Noah."

"I do know what you can do, and that's what I'm worried about."

"Dad," Claire said, "We need Sylar. He can do things that we can't. He can get into places that we never could." Noah took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"Go sit down. We'll talk about this when Peter gets here." Sylar and Claire went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"Thank you for standing up for me Claire."

"Threatening my father is not going to help your case any."

"I'm sorry, it slipped." Claire reached over and took Sylar's hand. He stared down at their hands for a moment before squeezing her hand. She looked up into his eyes and was so locked onto his gaze that their lips were almost touching before she noticed. She jumped back and dropped his hand.

"Sylar, we can't. Not here." He nodded and looked away.

"How long until Peter gets here?" As if summoned, Noah and Peter entered the room. Peter wasted no time in starting the interrogation.

"What was your motive behind saving us?" Sylar shrugged.

"I mostly wanted to show Claire that I could be trusted. I also don't believe that the government should be allowed to get a hold of either of you or Parkman's powers."

"How did you get Rebel to help you?"

"I asked him," Sylar replied coolly. "Unlike some people, Rebel believes that I have the potential to make a difference."

Noah broke in. "Why was it necessary to take Claire with you."

"It was her idea."

Claire looked up at her father. "All this is missing is a steel table and bright lights." Noah glared down at his daughter. "It's over, we're all back safe. It doesn't matter how it happened." Noah looked down at Sylar and Claire's hands, which had found each other again.

"Why are you holding his hand?"

Claire looked down and then over at Sylar, who shrugged. "I really like him. I don't know why, but I do." Before anyone could react, Noah had descended on Sylar and grabbed the front of his shirt.

"You listen to me! That is my little girl. I don't know what your intentions are, but if you ever hurt her, I will make you wish you were never born. She has somehow forgotten what you did to her, but I have not." With shaking hands Sylar removed Noah's hands from his shirt. He was barely containing the rage that threatened to boil over and lash out at Noah, but he was managing for Claire's sake.

"You will keep your hands off of me," he said darkly. "I don't believe Claire has forgotten what I did to her. She is willing to put it behind us in the face of our current predicament."

"Of course I haven't forgotten," Claire snapped. "I remember it like it was yesterday. But, dad, this is bigger than all of that! If we fall apart, if we can't stick together, they are going to win. They will take us, replicate our powers, run experiments on us, and possibly kill us. We have to move on and stop getting stuck on past issues."

"Well put Claire," Peter said quietly. Noah shot Peter a look dripping with venom. Peter put out his hands in a sort of peace offering. "Noah, I'm not saying I trust the guy. I don't even like him, but Claire has a point. We need all of us. Those agents are after all of us. I don't know about you, but I don't want hundreds of Sylars running around out there. We all have to work together to keep that from happening."

"I'm glad that we can all agree that I'm evil and more of me would be bad."

"Shut up!" Noah and Peter shouted in unison. "Peter," Noah continued, "if Sylar can't learn to control himself, we'll have a worse problem on our hands than the agents." Claire stood hauling Sylar up with her.

"I said I would take responsibility for him." She started for the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Noah asked, stepping in their path.

"I'm showing Sylar up to the guest room."

"Absolutely not!"

Sylar smiled. "Shall it be over your dead body, Bennet? Because that can be arranged." Claire elbowed him hard. "I apologize Claire."

"It is too late for me to send him home. He doesn't have transportation and there are probably people out there looking for us now."

"Claire, this is not your house. You don't decide who stays and who goes."

"If you make him leave now, I'll leave with him," Claire responded defiantly.

"Claire-…" Noah started.

"Where's mom?"

"She and Lyle are staying at her friend's house." Noah continued to stare his daughter down and Claire's eyes blazed right back. Noah's shoulders slumped and Claire knew she had won. "He can stay tonight only. First thing in the morning he is to be out of here." Claire nodded and Noah moved to the side to let them up the stairs. Peter came alongside Noah.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked quietly.

"No, but Claire's serious about leaving with him. I can't have that. I can keep a better eye on here right now if I just let her have her way. You can stay on the couch and give me a hand with that."

"Sure," Peter said, "I'm a little too tired to go home right now anyway."

*************************************************************************************

Claire opened the door to the guest room let Sylar pass her into the room. She shrugged as he took in his surroundings. The room was small, but not uncomfortable. There was a fairly good sized bed, a small dresser, a nightstand; anything that a visitor might want. "It's nice." He said finally.

"It's not much, but it works for a bedroom," Claire agreed.

Sylar closed the distance between them and stood just inches from her. "Thanks again. It does mean a lot to me that you think so much of me."

"I took responsibility for you Sylar. Don't make me look like an ass."

"I'll do my best." He brought his lips the rest of the way to hers and kissed her softly. For a moment Claire kissed back before pulling away.

"Goodnight Sylar. I'll see you in the morning."

"You could stay for a bit. We could be quiet." Claire blushed.

"I'm sure my dad is waiting for me to come back down. I'll see you in the morning." Without another word, Claire turned and left the room. Sylar stared after her before pushing the door shut and sitting down on the bed.

Claire trudged back downstairs. "Goodnight dad. Goodnight Peter." The two men called their goodnights before returning back to their hushed conversation. Every once in a while one of them would hiss Sylar's name. Claire listened for a moment before deciding that she didn't really care what they were talking about. She got ready, then climbed into bed, snuggling down into her comforter. She listened for sounds that Sylar was still awake until she slowly drifted off to sleep.

*************************************************************************************

Sylar crept out into the dark hallway. He had lain in his bed until all of the movement around the house stopped. He had long ago heard Noah's bedroom door open and shut. He looked around before making his way to Claire's door. Silently he slipped inside. He stood over Claire for a moment before leaning down and kissing her. Her eyes flew open and she pulled away from him. "Claire, it's me."

"What are you doing in here."

"I couldn't sleep."

"My dad is right down the hall and I guarantee he's listening to everything I do."

"We can be quiet."

"We can't. I'm sorry. I can't tell you how much I want you right now, but we can't do this here." Sylar looked down.

"Can I lay down with you for a bit?" Claire moved over.

"Just for a bit. You have to be out by the time dad gets up." Sylar slid in beside her.

"I will be." He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her closer to him. He chuckled softly. "You want me?"

"Unbelievably. I have since that first time we almost…" Claire felt her face heat up and knew she was blushing. She was glad it was dark. Behind her Sylar shuddered as he remembered the events of earlier.

"I don't know how much longer I can wait," he whispered in her ear. His warm breath brushed over her skin and a small moan escaped from her throat. He chuckled softly again. Claire tried to steady herself, but when she spoke her voice was shaky.

"Goodnight, Gabriel," she breathed.

"Goodnight Claire." He kissed her neck softly. He laid and listened to her soft even breathing for a long time before he followed her into sleep.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Gaah! Sorry it's been so long since I updated. I went to California for a week and I didn't really get a whole lot of writing done. Here's chapter 11. I appreciate the reviews and the faves. Enjoy

Disc: I don't own Heroes.

Chapter 11

Sylar's eyes slowly opened and he smiled as they fell on Claire's still sleeping face. He hadn't dreamed it. Softly he brushed a finger across her eyelids. She stirred slightly but didn't wake. He looked passed her to the clock on her bedside table. It read 5:00. Groaning softly he pulled himself up and listened for the sounds of Noah or Peter moving around. From what he could tell they weren't up yet. He eased himself out of bed and looked back at Claire. Maybe next time they could sleep at his place. The thought of it sent a shiver down his spine. Grabbing a pencil and paper off her of nightstand he scribbled a quick note telling her to call him before he slipped out of the room. He crept down the stairs and into the kitchen. He really should be gone before Noah got up, but he knew he couldn't do a whole lot without his morning cup of coffee. After five minutes of digging through all the cabinets and studying the coffee maker, he managed to get a cup of coffee. He leaned back against the counter and shut his eyes.

"Thought you'd be gone by now," Peter said from the doorway. Sylar's eyes snapped open.

"Can't leave without a little pick me up. As soon as I finish this I'll be gone."

"I still can't figure out what you gained by saving us."

Sylar looked over Peter's shoulder and smiled. "Claire's trust," he answered.

Peter eyed Sylar for a moment before shaking his head. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Maybe a good upstanding, honest man would do it to gain a woman's trust. Scum like you don't do anything unless there's something to gain."

"Peter, an upstanding, honest man wouldn't need to gain a woman's trust." Sylar put the mug in the sink and patted Peter's shoulder before heading for the door.

"What are we going to do about the agents?"

"We have to hit the problem on a political level." Sylar's face changed and Peter found himself staring at his brother. Peter shuddered. "I don't like any more than you do, but we need a strong political figure. The government has made laws that make it legal to hunt people like us. It's going to take a law to make them stop."

"I don't know about this. I don't really like the idea of using my dead brother's body for political gain."

"I'm sure he would have liked to have helped or something like that. Give me time to formulate a plan. I'll get back with you guys." Nathan was no longer standing there, and Sylar had taken his place. He turned to leave, but stopped when Peter grabbed his arm.

"I don't know what Claire sees in you, but I swear if you hurt her, I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your life." The corners of Sylar's mouth turned up slightly as he pushed Peter's hand off of his arm.

"Oh Peter…" Sylar shook his head and let himself out of the house.

*************************************************************************************

Claire held the phone to her ear and waited anxiously for Sylar to pick up. She had woken up slightly disappointed to find Sylar gone, but she found the note instructing her to call him. She waited and tried to quiet the butterflies in her stomach. Her face fell when the machine picked up, instructing her to leave a message. "Hi, it's Claire. I was just calling to…say hi. Okay, I'm hanging up now. Bye." Groaning she snapped her phone shut.

"Claire," her father called up the stairs. Claire ran down the stairs.

"Yeah, dad?"

"I'm going into work. Would it do any good for me to tell you to stay here?"

"Probably not."

"Claire, please be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'll be fine dad." Noah gave her a doubtful look before leaving. Claire looked around. Sylar was gone, at some point Peter must have left, and now her dad was gone. Claire had the house to herself. She sat down on the couch determined not to disappoint her father again. She listened to the silence in the house and shut her eyes. Her mind began to wander and as had been the case for the last few days she began to fantasize about Sylar. She remembered the way his lips had felt on hers, how his hands had felt as he had explored her body. She moaned softly. She wanted more. She sat for a bit longer before she found she couldn't take it anymore. She scribbled a quick, apologetic note to her father, put on her shoes and ran out of the house. Soon she was standing in front of Sylar's door. She hesitated a moment before raising a hand and knocking. When she received no answer she reached down and tried the knob. She was surprised to find the door unlocked. She opened it and stepped inside. Claire could hear the shower running. She scanned his bookshelves again, selected a book, and settled onto his couch.

She was so lost in the story that she didn't hear the shower shut off. She didn't hear the door open. "Claire?" She jumped at the sound of his voice. She stood to face him. Once again she found him dressed in nothing but a towel. She looked down trying to hide her blush.

"I missed you," she murmured. "I tried to stop thinking about you, to stay home like dad wanted me to, but I couldn't stop thinking about you." She gasped as his hands closed over her shoulders.

"You missed me? I don't know that I've ever had anybody miss me before."

"Well, I-…" Before she could finish she was cut off as his lips covered hers. Claire wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer. She moaned softly as his tongue pressed against her lip begging access. She parted her lips and felt his tongue slide into her mouth. She ran her tongue along his. He pulled away and moved to kiss down her neck. She tilted her head. "Sylar," she sighed softly.

"Why did you come here?" he breathed.

"…I wanted you…" she admitted, blushing. He chuckled softly as he buried his face in her hair. "We're really limited at my house."

"True," he whispered. "There are no limits here." He bent down and kissed her again. As they kissed, he pulled her toward his bedroom. "When is your father expecting you back?"

"Um…my father told me not to leave the house."

"I'm shocked that he still expects you to follow instructions." Claire was shaking by the time they got into Sylar's room. His eyes were full of concern as he stared back into hers. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…I…I've never done this before." Claire blushed a deep shade of crimson. Sylar blushed slightly, but smile warmly at Claire.

"Claire, we don't have to do anything if you don't want to." For a moment Claire considered running. It wasn't too late. They hadn't done anything yet. It wasn't that Claire didn't want to be with Sylar, she had meant it when she said she wanted him. She was afraid of the unknown. "Claire, this is why I wanted to wait until you trusted me. Do you trust me?"

"Yes," Claire whispered. Taking her hands he pulled her further into the room.

"Do you want me?" The way his voice smoldered sent shivers down Claire's spine.

"Yes." Sylar kissed her and scooped her up into his arms. Claire wrapped her arms around him as he gently laid her back on the bed. He kissed down her neck as his hands began to explore the rest of her body. Claire gasped as his hands slid underneath her shirt. His fingers trailed lightly up her sides. She shuddered as he brushed his fingers lightly over her breasts. Even through the fabric of her bra he left a burning trail everywhere he touched.

"Tell me if you want me to stop," he whispered. She nodded. Sylar slid his hands underneath her and easily undid the fasten on her bra. Claire arched a bit so that he could slide both it and her shirt off. He sucked in a breath as he looked down on her. "Beautiful," he breathed. He lowered himself back down until their chests were pressed together. Claire slid her hands down his back until she reached the towel that was still securely tied around his waist. He reached back and helped her undo the knot and the towel fell away. He brushed it off onto the floor. He began exploring her body with his mouth, moving from her neck, down to her breasts. Claire cried out and arched into him as he took one of her nipples into his mouth gently. He ran his tongue around it for a moment before moving on to the other one. He was pleased with the sounds his actions were producing. After he had finished the exploration of her breasts, his mouth made a hot trail of kisses down her stomach, stopping just above the waistband of her skirt. With one deft movement he removed her skirt and underwear. Using his knee he nudged her legs apart and settled himself between them. "We don't have to do this," he told her again. By this time Claire was panting slightly.

"I want you," she said quietly. Sylar nodded and kissed her as he positioned himself at her entrance. Claire gasped as he slid into slowly. He stopped long enough to give them both time to adjust and gather themselves. Claire whimpered at the feeling of emptiness as he pulled out, but he quickly thrust back into her causing a whole new wave of pleasure to roll over her. Soon the two were tangled up together moving in a fast, somewhat, desperate rhythm. The pressure began to build inside Claire until she felt like she couldn't take it anymore. With one more thrust, Claire's vision exploded into a thousand bright lights. She heard him moan her name as he quickly followed her. Sylar rolled over so that he was laying beside her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his chest. "Wow," she panted. He chuckled softly.

"Claire, you were amazing." She looked up at him puzzled.

"I didn't do much."

"You did more than you realize." He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Claire felt her eyelids becoming heavy.

"Is it common to be this sleepy after sex?"

"It's kind of exhausting. Rest, Claire." He kissed the top of her head as she drifted off to sleep.

*************************************************************************************

The sounds of explosions woke them up. No, not explosions, Sylar quickly realized. The sound of the door being kicked in. Before either one of them could react, agents had filled the room. Sylar knocked the closest one back before he felt a stinging pain in the side of his neck. "How long does it take it to work?" he heard a voice ask.

"We'll find out soon enough." Sylar felt himself growing weak. Had they tranqued him? He didn't think so. Most tranquilizers wore off within a matter of moments. From the corner of his eye he saw Claire trying to fight off another agent (and doing a good job of it too). He flicked his wrist, fully expecting to see the agent propelled into the nearest wall. His eyes widened when nothing happened. Damn. Now he knew what they had shot him with.

"That worked faster than I expected," the first voice said. Beside him Claire gasped as they shot her with the same syringe they had used on him.

"Claire," he said numbly. Before he could say anything further, an agent standing in the doorway raised a gun and with two shots had put both Sylar and Claire down.

A/N: There it is. I put lemons in this story finally. Hopefully it won't take too long for me to update.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Here's chapter 12. Enjoy.

I don't own Heroes

Chapter 12

"Everything's going to be okay," Sylar whispered softly. Claire squeezed his hand and nodded. She let out a slow shaky breath. She must have just dreamed the men kicking the door in. She was in his bed. He was holding her close, stroking her hair. From somewhere in the corner of the room she heard another voice.

"How long do you think it'll last?" the voice asked.

"We can run more tests to find out," another voice responded.

"And the other one?"

"He hasn't come out of it yet. He has a nasty habit of getting over being tranquilized. We gave him a double dose." Claire's eyes snapped open. She gasped as she found that she wasn't in Sylar's bed, but laying on a cold steel table in a large, empty concrete room. At least they had had the decency to dress her in a gown of some kind.

"She's awake," the first voice observed, coming closer. "Hello, Ms. Bennett." Claire tried to find her voice, but found that she couldn't speak. "Welcome to our lab. We'd like to run some tests." He spoke softly and slowly as if talking to a child. Still unable to speak, Claire watched in horror as the man came towards her arm with a scalpel. She tried to pull away, but her arms were restrained. Without hesitation, the man drew the scalpel across Claire's arm. There was no pain, but Claire stared in amazement as blood began to pour from the cut. She found her voice.

"Why isn't it healing?" The man standing over her smiled.

"It's due to the inhibitor we shot you with earlier." Claire was suddenly furious.

"So what, you're just going to keep cutting me until I heal? Then you'll know how long your stupid drug will work?" The man's smile disappeared as he turned and walked back over to his companion.

"We'll come back in an hour to see if that has healed." Claire wanted to scream as the two men turned and left the room. She laid back and shut her eyes. Tears rolled down her cheeks. She wondered where Sylar was and hoped that he was faring better than she was.

*************************************************************************************

Sylar groaned as he opened his eyes. He looked around quickly. A low growl escaped his throat. If he could move his arms and if there had been anything around to hit, Sylar would have. He couldn't believe he was in this situation again. Restrained in a cold concrete room. It was getting to be more familiar than he felt comfortable with. His foggy brain tried to remember what he had been doing today. He took a shower, Claire came over, they… a smile settled on his face as he thought about what they had done. Suddenly his breath caught in his throat. Claire! He had to get out of here, he had to figure out what they had done with her. He pulled at his restraints until he realized that it was useless. An idea came to him. It was a recycled idea, but it had worked before. He wasn't sure if his powers were working, but he had always been decent at hand to hand combat. Sylar close his eyes and began breathing deeply, slowing his pulse. If he had any luck he could slow his pulse enough as to be undetectable. He heard footsteps heading towards the door and he held his breath, waiting. The door slid open. "He's still under?" a man's voice asked. He felt fingers at his throat, checking for a pulse. "I can't get anything here. Did we overdose him?"

"Check his wrist," another voice suggested. He felt the man's hands move to the restraints on his wrist. It was what Sylar had wanted. For a moment the man entertained the notion that he could get to Sylar's wrist without removing the restraint. After a few attempts the man growled and unlocked the restraint. As soon as the restraint left his wrist Sylar's hand shot out. In a lightning fast movement Sylar broke the first man's nose and reached the scalpel laying on the cart next to him. He slashed out at the second man.

The man put up his hands as a shield. "Now really. All of this is unnecessary. If we can just talk…"

"Where's Claire!" Sylar spat. He reached back and undid the other strap before jumping up and advancing on the second man.

"Wh- who?" the man stuttered.

"Claire Bennett. The woman who was with me." Sylar could feel the moment the inhibitor stopped working. With a grin Sylar flicked his wrist and sent the first man flying into the wall. "I guess you know how long it works now," he growled. "You have two seconds to tell me where Claire is." Sylar slammed the man against the wall and the man screamed as Sylar began to draw his finger across the man's forehead.

"She's down the hall on the left!" Sylar stopped. The man let out a sigh of relief. But his relief suddenly turned to horror as Sylar thrust the scalpel into his chest. Sylar let him go and he slid to the floor. Sylar knelt beside him.

"You've mistaken me for a reasonable man," he said quietly. "That was for Claire. You'd better hope I find her in one piece." Standing, Sylar exited the room into the hallway. He strode down the hall until he found Claire's room. He could see her through the window. "Oh, Claire," he said quietly. She was hooked up to and I.V. and as far as he could tell she was unconscious. He reached for the door hopefully, but wasn't surprised to find it locked. Desperately he glanced around and found a panel beside the door. At the same time a worker was coming out of the room across the hall. "What's the code to this door?"

The man paused. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'll only ask you one more time. The code." Sylar drew his finger across the man's forehead.

"256874!" the man screamed. Sylar turned back to the panel and input the numbers. The door beeped twice and Sylar pushed on the door, which swung open. With one last glance back to the man who was laying on the floor gasping, Sylar rushed into the room to Claire's side.

"Claire?" he said somewhat frantically. "Claire, please." Her eyes flutter open and Sylar sighed in relief.

"Sylar? Are you really here?" He took her hand.

"I'm here. We have to get out of here Claire." Claire looked down at her cuts which still had yet to heal. Sylar's eyes followed hers and he felt himself filling up with a furious rage.

"Why aren't I healing?" Sylar pushed his rage aside and carefully picked Claire up.

"They shot us with an inhibitor. It stops our powers. Apparently they've given you a bit more than me, but it'll wear off. I'm going to get you out of here, then we have to do something. We can't let them start gathering up people with powers, doing experiments on us." Claire wrapped her arms around him.

"The government is behind them. How are we supposed to stop them?"

"We have to get into the government. Shake up the system from the inside."

"There is no way they are going to put any one of us in a public office."

"There is one of us." Claire stared up at him uncertainly. "Peter and I were talking about bringing Nathan back. Rebel thinks I can make a difference, I have the tools. Maybe this is my chance to make that difference." Walking back to the door carrying Claire he kicked it open and was greeted by the click of several guns.

"You are under arrest," one of the agents bellowed. Claire was shaking.

"Before you can put your plan into action, we actually have to get out of here." She whispered in his ear. He set her down gently behind him. Then, raising his hands he turned to face the coming battle.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to update. I've been watching a bunch of shows and movies on my compy instead of writing. All of my stories have been really neglected, but I finally managed to update this one. Sorry it's so short. Hope you enjoy.


	13. Chapter 13

Disc: As always, I don't own Heroes.

Keeping Your Enemies Closer

Chapter 13

A dozen guns went off as Sylar walked directly into the oncoming agents. A dozen bullets froze in midair and turned back towards their respective agents. "That's always been the problem with agents, company or otherwise. They always underestimate me." He splayed his fingers and the bullets flew back into the gathering crowd. Claire stared on in horror as at least half of the bullets hit home. Alarms were sounding now and soon the place would be crawling with agents. They had to get out of here. Her eyes fell on the agent closest to her who had been one of those hit. His gun had flown out of his hand and was laying where Claire could reach it. Carefully making sure that she didn't draw attention away from Sylar, she reached over and picked up the gun. Slowly she stood up and was aware that the pain she had felt before was gone. A flutter of hope began to build up inside her. She really hadn't been looking forward to being a lead weight as they made their escape. She stepped up beside Sylar and aimed at the oncoming agents. "What are you doing?" Sylar griped. "Just stay out of the way."

"There's no way I'm letting you have all the fun," she replied. "Besides, how many people can you throw into walls before that gets old?" In response Sylar flicked his wrist and sent three of the agents flying through the large window of Claire's former cell. The rest of the agents approached with more caution.

"Ms. Bennett," the closest one said holding up his hands. "Put down the gun. We can discuss this, you don't have to go with him. You're not in any trouble Ms. Bennett. We just want to talk to you."

"If I'm not in any trouble why am I being held here against my will?" The man thought about that.

"We just want to better understand who you are, what you can do," he answered.

"I'll pass, thanks," she spat.

"Claire and I will be leaving now," Sylar announced. "I don't want any of you trying to follow us. Believe me I will know."

"We can't let you leave," another agent spoke up and Sylar turned on him.

"Are you going to stop me?" Sylar snarled. As if a switch had been flipped all of the agents took a step back. Sylar took Claire's hand and walked her toward the exit. Claire kept the gun trained on the group of now frozen agents. Claire and Sylar made their way down the hallway. Claire kept glancing behind her and was surprised to find the hallway empty.

"Are they really going to just let us go?"

"They'll let us go," Sylar answered, "but that doesn't mean that they're done with us. Now we're more of a challenge. They won't quit until they get us and find a way to keep us." Claire let out a breath.

"We have to do something Sylar. We can't let them keep coming after us."

"I have a plan for that." Sylar found a car and hot-wired it. "Let's go."

Sylar drove in silence back to his apartment. He put the car in park then turned to face Claire. "I'm sorry that happened," he told her. Claire shook her head.

"You didn't do anything. You saved me." They both looked back as a black SUV pulled into the space behind them. Claire's eyes widened as Noah and Peter got out. "He's going to kill me." Sylar turned and smiled at her.

"For the record, you really should have listened to your father about staying home." Claire fought the urge to stick her tongue out. She stepped out of the car and turned to face Noah.

Noah was speechless. Hands on his hips, he stare Claire down incredulously.

"Hi dad," she smiled. It was Peter who spoke.

"Claire, what were you thinking?!" Claire jumped and turned to face Peter.

"I went to see Sylar…" Peter turned on Sylar.

"You son of a bitch! Can't you just leave her alone? If you had just stayed away from her in the first place, she wouldn't have gotten into all this trouble." Peter had come so close that he was standing almost nose to nose with Sylar. Sylar raised his hands.

"Careful Peter. I don't like being backed into a corner." Peter took a slow step back. He continued to glare at Sylar. "Have you met Claire?" Sylar continued. "She's trouble waiting to happen. She seeks it out. I'm just a shiny new toy. If it hadn't have been me, something would have led her to rebellion." Claire stared at Sylar open mouthed. Sylar shook his head once and Claire looked away. "We don't have time for these arguments. There are agents out there looking for Claire and I…looking for all of us. We need to come up with a plan to stop them for good."

"I thought you said you had a plan," Claire responded.

"I do, it just needs some fine tuning," Sylar looked around. "Let's get inside. They'll be here soon."

"What about the car? They'll see it parked out here. They'll pretty much figure out where you live from there," Claire pointed out. Sylar looked back at the car.

"You're right." He tossed the keys in Peter's direction. "Go move that somewhere less conspicuous." Peter shook his head. "If you don't move the car, the agents will find the apartment and they'll take all of us." Not waiting for Peter's response, Sylar turned. He threw an arm across Claire's shoulder and started toward the apartment. Noah growled and grabbed Claire's arm.

"I hope you did everything you wanted to do Claire, because it will be many years before you get out."

"Dad, let's just get through this then you can ground me all you want…until I'm eighteen."

"Claire, this is a big deal! You could have really been hurt."

"I don't get hurt, dad." Her voice had turned suddenly icy. Noah pulled back. "Especially not when a man I'm supposed to trust decides that it's okay not to tell me important things, like…oh I don't know…my father's dead."

"Claire…"

"Sylar had me. I was fine."

"Can I remind you that he is the reason your father is dead?"

"I expect that kind of thing from Sylar. I don't like it and I'm upset that it happened, but at least Sylar acted in way that was expected. I expected you to care about my feelings a little more than that, Noah." Claire sped up and joined Sylar as he walked up to his apartment and let them in.

"What's this plan of yours, Sylar?" Noah asked through clenched teeth.

"We need to get into a more powerful position. We need to stop the agency at a more political level. Your plan worked very well, Noah. No one else knows that Nathan Petrelli is dead. He still has his place near the top of the political food chain."

"I thought you said you weren't going to do that anymore," Noah sneered.

"I told you I wasn't going to let anyone mess with me anymore. This is my choice now. Besides, I don't want to end up as a lab rat."

"So what?" Claire looked over at Sylar. "Are you thinking we hold a press conference?"

Sylar nodded. "Maybe. Do you remember about that meeting I wanted to have with the president?"

"You mean when you wanted to become the president?"

"I think I need to set up another meeting with the president. If I can convince him to shut the agency down we're home free. If not…" Sylar shrugged "there is still the possibility that I could become president and shut it down myself. Either way, I need to get in there. The agents won't come after Nathan because they don't know that he's…gifted."

Claire nodded. "It's not a bad plan. It could actually work."

"This was part of Angela's plan," Noah chimed in looking down at his hands. "She was right about us needing Nathan."

"Can you still do it?" Claire asked looking steadily at Sylar. Sylar looked back at her and his face began to change. Soon Claire found herself staring into Nathan Petrelli's eyes. A small lump formed in the back of her throat. It was hard to see Nathan's face, living, breathing.

"Are you okay?" Sylar whispered. Claired nodded.

"I am. I just miss him." She stood and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Sylar took a deep breath. He hoped that he and Claire could work through this. The door opened and Peter stepped through the door.

"I hid the car." He looked up and saw Nathan sitting there. "What the hell?"

A/N: Sorry for the long update. I'm working on four other stories and I'm trying to update them in turn so that none of them get too far behind. I hope that you enjoy this chapter. I appreciate all the reviews and critiques. I'll try to update soon.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: AAA!!! I came back. I'm sorry for the long absence. I've been working a lot and trying to get some drawings down on paper. I'll try to be better at updating though I might have to make the chapters shorter to get through it. Onward.

Disc: I don't own heroes.

Keeping Your Enemies Closer:

Chapter 14

Sylar stood up and turned to face Peter. Nathan's face seemed to deflate as he took in Peter's angry glare. He shrugged and swallowed. He felt Claire's hand slip into his and confidence in his plan seeped back into his features. "I thought about it and I decided that there's no way around using Nathan's body to shut the agency down," he told him. Peter sat down and stared at Sylar in disbelief. Sylar all but rolled his eyes. "You knew this was something I was thinking about."

"I know," Peter responded. "It's still not something that I'm comfortable with. I mean…Nathan's dead, I know that, but here he is standing in front of me." Claire knelt down next to Peter and rested a hand on his arm.

"It freaks me out too, but Sylar's right. Nathan is the only one who can get close enough to the White House to make any kind of a difference." Peter nodded.

Noah shook his head. "When did the two of you figure all this out?" he indicated Sylar. Peter looked up at Noah, eyes blazing.

"I figured it out a while ago. There was something off about Nathan. That, and Parkman told me."

"You seem to have taken it well," Noah observed.

"I'm thoroughly pissed at you, mom, and Parkman for what you did, but with all that's been going on, I didn't think it was a good time to get petty. Maybe when everything's cooled down I'll work up a nice rage."

"I figured it out the last time we had dinner with Nathan and Angela," Claire said quietly. "Nathan seemed really distracted, and there was the whole business with him jumping up suddenly to adjust the clock on the mantle. Later he took a phone call and when he wrote down the message, he wrote it with his left hand. Dad was right handed."

"She busted into Nathan's office right before I went out to hold a press conference and after some convincing, she made me remember who I was," Sylar finished. "I don't know what was luckier, Bennett; that she didn't kill you or that she managed to convince me not to kill you." Noah opened his mouth to speak, but Sylar held up a hand. "Peter's right. This is no time to be petty." Claire moved closer to Sylar, who had resumed his own shape. Without really thinking about it, she laid her head against his arm. This earned her a sharp look from Noah and a quizzical look from Peter. She ignored them and stared out the window. The sun had set awhile ago and Claire felt her eyes growing heavy. Sylar turned his head so that he could look down at Claire. "You should get some rest." She looked up at him and smiled sleepily. Noah cleared his throat and stepped toward them.

"I think we should all get some rest. We can pick this up in the morning. Sylar, you could probably go back to your apartment." Claire sat up quickly.

"They already broke into his apartment, dad. They know where he lives. He should stay here in the guest room."

"Claire…" Noah started.

"This plan means nothing without Sylar. If the agents break into his apartment and take him we're screwed." Sylar felt his heart warming to Claire even more. Noah regarded him for a long time.

"You will stay away from Claire. You can sleep in the guest room. Peter and I will be keeping an eye on you."

"Oh will you…" Sylar sneered. Claire stood up.

"Goodnight," she said specifically to Sylar. She kissed him before turning and heading up to her room. Noah leaned down so that he was eye to eye with Sylar.

"I don't know what it is that she sees in you, but one of these days whatever delusions she's having about you will end. It's best that you just stay away from her now."

"I'd rather let Claire make up her own mind. You know Noah, she'll be 18 very soon. I would be careful how you treat her now or you may lose her then." Sylar turned and headed back up to the guest room. He pulled his shirt over his head and laid down tossing the shirt aside. For a long time he stared at the ceiling and contemplated his sudden relationship with Claire. He couldn't believe that it had gone this far. She trusted him and she seemed to really care about him. It was the first time he could remember someone genuinely caring about him. The whole thing was really unfair when he thought about it. He knew that Claire trusted him, but he knew he still couldn't fully trust her. Not because she had done anything, but because it seemed to be the way his life went. He sighed and rolled onto his side and was startled to see Claire standing in the doorway.

"Hey," she whispered. "What were you thinking about so hard?" She walked to the edge of the bed and stared down at him.

"What about Peter and Noah? How did you get past them?" Claire rolled her eyes and laid down next to him.

"I've been sneaking out for a while. I've learned some techniques." She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him softly before resting her head against his chest.

"Not that I like sympathizing with Noah, but you really shouldn't sneak out of the house. At least not for a while."

"Not you too."

"Claire, it's dangerous. Something could happen to you." She looked into his eyes.

"I have you to protect me," she responded, nipping him playfully. He looked back at her seriously.

"Please be careful. If anything happened to you…" She silenced him by laying a finger against his lips.

"Nothing's going to happen to me. I'm the girl who can't die. I'm durable."

"These people aren't playing by the same rules," he reminded her. Claire sighed.

"Do you think this plan will work?" For a long time Sylar was silent. He tightened his arms around her.

"I hope so," he whispered. "Then we can work on having a normal life."

She smiled up at him. "I don't think there's ever going to be anything normal about our lives, but we can try."

A/N: Sorry about the shortness. I think that I might have to start making chapters shorter than they have been if I'm going to update them in a timely manner. This was really a transition chapter. I hope to be updating soon.


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